NCT00001782

Areas of Brain Responsible for Understanding American Sign Language

Hemispheric Lateralization of Language Receptive Function in the Deaf and in Hearing Individuals Who Learned ASL as First Language

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 30 (planned)
• Sponsor: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) · NIH
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The human brain is made up of two halves called hemispheres. Each half of the brain is responsible for processing different kinds of information. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that both the right and left hemispheres are involved when processing information given in American Sign Language (ASL). However, the study also showed that when processing spoken language, the left hemisphere was mostly involved. Researchers would like to find out more about how the brain processes American Sign Language (ASL). This study is designed to determine if the right hemisphere is necessary for normal understanding of ASL.

Detailed description

The purpose of this protocol is to determine if the right hemisphere activation associated with perception of American Sign Language (ASL) in deaf subjects and in normal hearing individuals raised by deaf parents (who learned ASL before written English) is necessary for appropriate understanding of ASL.

Conditions

• Brain Mapping
• Deafness
• Healthy

Timeline

• Start date: 1998-03-01
• Completion: 2000-12-01
• First posted: 2002-12-10
• Last updated: 2008-03-04

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States